


Charmed Meets Merlin: Excalibur

by KokoroJunnayai



Series: Charmed Meets [9]
Category: Charmed, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 13:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3250979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KokoroJunnayai/pseuds/KokoroJunnayai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After 'Sword and the City', Piper had forgotten about Excalibur. Merlin hadn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charmed Meets Merlin: Excalibur

**Author's Note:**

> This is me trying to push the Merlin universe and the Charmed universe into the same world.  
> Totally unbeta'd. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Piper had forgotten about Excalibur.

It was such an odd thing to realize, but it was true – after a month of walking past it and all the other junk and boxes stashed in the attic, the fact that she had the sword completely slipped her mind.

The thing gleamed so innocently in its granite sheath. While it was probably very nice for a sword – Piper wouldn't know, living in the twenty-first century and all – it had no jewels and looked plain to her eye, and so the object blended in nicely with the other odd assortment of things.

They had a chest full of discarded demon weapons pushed in front of it, boxes of old pictures and scrapbooks towering, leaning over its left, and unless the sun shone brightly through the window, the stone was impossible to spot behind several stacked broken chairs.

If Piper had thought about this at all, she would've considered it a good thing – her inexplicable attraction to the sword had waned, but hadn't quite vanished, after finding out Wyatt was the true King Arthur. She didn't want to be tempted again.

But thing was, she hadn't thought about it. The Oldest Halliwell had spent the last month fixing up the manor, fixing up the club, then trying to find bands for the club, and on top of that trying desperately not to be the worst mom ever to Wyatt. Oh, and hunting demons at Chris's request any time she had a spare moment.

Arthurian legends which may or may not be true were the furthest things from her mind.

Well, they _were_.

"Who the hell are you?" Piper demanded, standing rigid in the doorway of her attic.

In the center of the room stood a tall old man with a long white beard and blue, blue eyes gazing wearily down her. He was dressed in clothes that looked almost as ancient as he did – all creases and wrinkles and fraying ends.

Nobby hands were settled on a curious staff in front of him.

When the stranger sighed, Piper tensed, hands raising instinctively, but all he did was scratch his chin and open his mouth.

"Sorry to frighten you." The old man's voice was unexpectedly British – soft, lilting, and sounding utterly, honestly, miserable. "I meant to knock, I really did – I just...it's been a long month."

There was no malice or clear ill-meaning in his tone, no weapon on him save his walking stick, and no clear proof that he was anything supernatural.

Piper's hands itched to flick, to just freeze him and roll him down the stairs and out the door, but she stopped herself. Maybe he was just some crazy old guy. Maybe he had a good reason for being here.

Then again, with her luck...It was probably something bad.

"That's too bad, really. But why don't you just tell me what the hell you're doing in my house?" She snapped. The woman eased into the room, keeping her hands out of her pockets, and walked towards him like he was a wild animal.

Piper would never try to blow up a person; but the second he revealed himself as a demon, he would be toast. A million little tiny pieces of toast.

"Well, you should know!" He snapped right back, irritation in his hunched frame. "You're the one who took it! Took me ages to find you too, a lot of hard work.."

He began to pace and mutter unintelligibly to himself, then turned back to her and said,

"I can't stand the Americas, you know. Almost no Old Magic here at all."

It sounded like he was disappointed in her, personally, for living in such a place.

"Listen, crazy-guy –"

"My name is Merlin." He interrupted.

For a moment Piper only stared, squinted, and ogled this dirty, wrinkly, grandpa before her. He certainly had the beard right, she caught herself thinking.

But there was no way...he couldn't be...no. No.

Finally, she only sighed and rubbed her temples. She didn't want to jump to conclusions and shout every myth and legend as real, but it seemed the universe was conspiring against her to prove this one was.

"You're Merlin."

"Yes, yes, I'm Merlin, but that's not important." He brushed it aside.

The rational part of Piper really wanted to disagree with that statement, yet he was already continuing.

"I'm here for it, for the sword."

Piper blinked. That...hadn't been what she'd been expecting. That was why _The Merlin_ (or someone who claimed to be) was here in her attic?

"Um..What sword?"

"What sword, she asks. 'What _sword?'_ " He mocked. Piper didn't take kindly to mocking. "Isn't it supposed to be famous? Doesn't it have all those silly legends about it – all wrong by the way? Do you witches lot have so many magic swords, you can forget about Excalibur?"

"Oh. That sword." Piper said.

" _That_ sword. She says. _That_ sword. _Witches_."

"Alright, that's it buddy." Piper growled, her patience at it's end. She flicked her hands at him to freeze him in his tracks – only it didn't work. He continued to shuffle his feet to and fro and mutter to himself, sometimes gesturing at nothing, too. She tried again and felt the first trickle of fear bubble up in her throat when it failed.

Obviously he was more powerful than he seemed.

"Alright then. I don't know who you _really_ are but you need to get out of my house. _Now_." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Weren't you listening to me?" He half-shouted, spinning back around. "I can't leave without the sword!"

"Like hell you're getting that sword! It doesn't belong to you."

Anger, much stronger than her fear, boiled underneath Piper's skin. Whoever this magical creature truly was, they were about to face the wrath of a Charmed One. He shouldn't have broken into her home and he definitely shouldn't have mocked her, and it was over her dead body that he was stealing what belonged to her son.

Raising her hands, she focused her energy and flicked her fingers at him. A cocky smirk was already spreading over her features.

However her explosion didn't touch the man at all – a blue, shimmering shield appeared from nowhere and protected him. Her power didn't even leave a scratch on the shield.

"Um...uh-oh." She heard herself say.

But the man was far from angry as the blue magic vanished, collapsed in on itself. He seemed...sad. Old. Weary, with gaze downcast and a sigh on his lips.

Suddenly his eyes met hers and the illusion shattered – she saw eyes glowing gold with beautiful, terrible power, felt the very air around them vibrate with it, and knew he was strong. Stronger than she could ever be.

Slowly, his aged garments began to rustle in a gentle, conjured breeze and as he stretched his staff out before him so he looked like...Merlin. Wow.

It didn't seem so impossible that he was who he said he was anymore.

For a long while, Piper didn't know what to say. Should she apologize, run, get her sisters, try a spell?

This creature was _made_ of power, magic flowed from him like breath flows from the lungs – and she was smart enough to realize when she was hopelessly outmatched.

But did he want to hurt her? It...didn't appear so.

Finally his eyes were the ancient, somehow kind blue again, and he stepped forwards with the hand not holding his staff out.

It took her a long second to realize he wanted to shake her hand.

"Sorry. I'm getting crankier in my old age. Let's try this again, shall we?" He said, smile wide and genuine. "I'm Merlin. Nice to meet you."

Swallowing, she managed to clasp his gnarled, tiny hand in hers and nod.

"Piper." Somebody said. Oh, that was her. Wow, was this day super unreal.

She'd _forgotten_ about Excalibur and now The freaking _Merlin_ was in her attic. Shaking her hand.

What, was she going to meet Harry Potter tomorrow or something? Piper didn't think she could handle that much change to her world view in such a short amount of time.

"I'm sure you're a perfectly lovely witch when you're not trying to blow people up, Piper." He assured her, letting her hand go.

Her palm tingled where he'd touched it and she wondered, distantly, if even his hands were pure magic, and if they'd done something to hers.

"Thanks, Merlin." She retorted. The attic spun for a moment and she let herself drop onto the couch as the words sunk in.

"Wow. You're _Merlin_. Like... _the Merlin?_ "

The old man rolled his eyes.

"Always such disbelief with you witches." He muttered. Then, louder. "Yes, Merlin is the name my mother gave me. But if it helps, you can call me something else."

"Like _what_?" She was at such a loss she couldn't even think of a witty remark.

"Will, Jones, Atherton – whatever have you."

"Okay. Okay. But Merlin. You're _Merlin_." Something was struggling to click in her mind. "You're a wizard."

"It has been said."

That pushed her back a step into reality – somehow, snarky legends were easier to handle than benevolent ones. Probably because she knew the territory better.

"But Mordaunt said you weren't real. Uh, he was a demon that seemed to know a lot about Camelot." She added at Merlin's confused look.

He gave her an almost glare, spitting, "Demons. They aren't much in England, except to try and get at Excalibur. But the lot of them are filthy liars, I know that much. I assure you I am very real."

"Yeah." She caught herself falling into his centuries old face, counting up every crinkle around his mouth and eyes and wondering just how old he really was.

"I guess you are really...him." She admitted, awestruck. Piper felt like she was seven-years-old again playing King Arthur and Camelot with her sisters. It wasn't an entirely bad feeling either.

This would definitely be a great story to tell Phoebe and Paige when they got home. A smile started to tug at her mouth.

In the corner of her eye something metallic glinted, and she realized a beam of light had landed on Excalibur's partly uncovered hilt.

Her smile died.

"But you came for Excalibur." She said. "Which, if you're really Merlin, you should know my son is the only one who can wield it."

"That's preposterous!" Merlin declared. "Unless your son is King Arthur."

Living legend or not, the mother in Piper didn't like hearing someone saying 'preposterous' to Wyatt growing up to be great, and stood up with a scowl.

"I'm telling you, it's Wyatt's. The lady in the lake gave it to me – well, she stuck it in a stone – but it turned out I was supposed to give it to Wyatt, because he's the new King Arthur."

Piper's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are you really Merlin?"

Rubbing his forehead, he started pacing again, thunking his staff against her wooden floor. It seemed he paced when annoyed or upset, and muttered to himself too, which was just unsettling. Maybe he was Merlin, but _definitely_ he was a little insane.

"I know I've put quite a lot of enchantments on it over the years..." She caught him mumbling. "Still..what does that mean... Arthur should..."

Abruptly he stopped and spun around.

"Lady of the lake, you say?" Pure disbelief was written all over his face.

Piper was beginning to get confused.

"Well there was this woman and she was in a lake..." She gestured around vaguely, hopelessly then just shrugged.

"So you just _assumed_ she was The Lady in The Lake?"

"Well...yeah." She huffed. "Then who was she, mister?"

He frowned at her.

"She was a water sprite, most certainly. Freya – The real Lady," He clarified at her look. "Has made many friends of them. From what she tells me her friend overheard demons searching at several lakes in England for Excalibur, and panicked. Freya is who I trust to keep the sword safe, you see, but in Avalon or out, she is forever bound to her lake. I think her friend feared the demons might hurt Freya's lake to get the sword."

Piper was barely keeping up with this, but when he paused for breath, she nodded for him to keep going.

"She took the sword from Freya and tried to contact those famous for being demon-killers."

Something about the phrasing made her uncomfortable, made her want to add that they saved a lot of lives, too.

But she also wasn't ashamed of vanquishing evil, and so she lifted her chin and smiled grimly.

"So that's why she contacted me."

He nodded absently.

"Yes, a Charmed One. Not sure why she didn't try to talk to me – perhaps she wasn't sure how. Water sprites aren't big on waiting or thinking things through, you know; they always dive in with no thought to the current."

Not wanting to look dumb in front of Merlin, Piper made an agreeable noise. But a voice in the back of her head, sounding too much like Phoebe, told her she was being ridiculous.

Then she frowned and shook her head, saying,

"Okay, nope, still confused. If she wasn't the Lady of the Lake and really was this, water sprite, how could she wield the sword?"

Old Merlin was incredibly bewildered, scratching his mighty beard.

"I've just told you – she's a water sprite."

"But how –"

"Water sprite."

"Bu –"

"Sshh. _Sprite_."

"So what, all magical females in water can hold Excalibur? Is that what you're saying?" Piper asked with a scowl.

"Let's go with yes." He grinned. Which was not in any way a satisfactory response, but the Charmed One let it go.

"So The Lady of the Lake did _not_ give me Excalibur, her girl...water...buddy did. Because me and my sisters are the Charmed Ones. Because she thought these Camelot-fanatic demons would hurt, uh, _Freya's_... lake?"

At Merlin's encouraging nod, Piper kept going, feeling slightly more confident.

"And then we assumed she was _The Lady –_ well, actually, just Paige did, not me at all – and the demons used it as an opportunity to get the sword. Specifically, Mordaunt used it to convince me I was the new...Queen Arthur."

"Yes, yes! Exactly! Probably! I wasn't here for that last part..."

"But I thought only Arthur could wield the sword." She pointed out.

"Not just _anyone_ can use it. But not only Arthur." He admitted.

"Great. Good going there, Merlin. What about the whole, 'only the most powerful being in the world' is King Arthur business? Is that just myth too?"

By this point Piper was largely unfazed by myths being merely partly true or real, but untrustworthy. She wouldn't be surprised to learn that Queen Guinevere had been real but could fly and had had a unicorn. Seriously. This was her day today.

"Pretty much myth." Merlin broke into her thoughts.

"Uh huh."

Tapping her nails against her arm, she began to stand and pace uncomfortably. It seemed she could digest all this more easily if she moved around a bit.

Piper squinted her eyes at the man.

"So what about my son? What's your explanation for Wyatt being able to control Excalibur perfectly, huh?"

So far he'd had one for everything else – and she was on the fence about whether that was extremely suspicious or meant he was telling the truth.

"Actually," Merlin said and Piper knew she'd probably hate whatever followed. "Can I meet him? Your son, that is?"

Feeling like a bodyguard or security worker with a job at an airport, she eyed him carefully and tried to evaluate his danger level. Which was simply silly, because this was _Merlin_. With a capitalized 'The' in front of his name and everything.

It made her wary and petrified, but she knew that if he tried he could force his way through to her baby.

Still, he was _asking_ and she was _Piper_ and if she could help it, she would never ever let anything happen to her beautiful son.

"You leave your staff _here_." She said finally. Her tone was sharp and unyielding.

Merlin however, beamed underneath his beard and cheerfully placed his stick on the sofa.

"And no magic, you hear?" Piper snapped. She was hesitant to move, to show him to the play room where her Wyatt was.

Yeah, he was the Twice Blessed and had a force field to protect himself, if it came to it, but she was like, 80 percent sure this old crazy guy was Merlin – or someone just as powerful. But from what she'd seen, he probably _wasn't_ a bad guy.

It just ruffled her feathers to bring some creature like that so close to her child, was all.

"Piper. I swear on my life no harm will come to him." He said, voice kind. "I only wish to meet him."

"Oh, alright." She huffed, and then they were stomping down stairs.

For an old, old man, he didn't seem to mind physical excursion as much as she'd expected. He groaned and grunted as she sped down the steps, yet he managed to keep up with her angry pace and reached the bottom without being out-of-breath.

Faster still, she strode to her living room and took Wyatt from his playpen. It wasn't till her arms were around him and his hands curling clumsily in her shirt, her hair, that her anxiety quieted and she managed to smile at Merlin.

He stood in the doorway – indeed, he was keeping a safe distance, maybe to ease her fears, which was sweet.

Even thinking about Wyatt being in danger for too long put her in stress-mode and it helped so much to clutch him to her heart. It made her feel like she could protect him.

She took a deep breath and let it out.

"Sorry, I just...I worry." Piper said to Merlin. Then, to Wyatt, "Hey, baby. Mommy was just telling someone about you. This is Merlin. Can you say 'hi'? Can you tell Merlin 'hi', baby?"

An ancient, warm smile was carved in Merlin's equally ancient face as he took in this small person.

"This is Wyatt?" He asked, a strange tone to his voice.

"Yeah."

Merlin, eyes bluer and deeper than ever before, stared straight into her son's face, with an intensity that she wasn't sure he liked.

"Hello, Wyatt." He murmured.

Wyatt was predictably silent – he was very shy with strangers. And sometimes with family, too.

"So, how do you think this little guy can handle Excalibur if he's not the next King Arthur?" She asked, bouncing her baby in her arms.

Merlin never answered. He gazed at Wyatt for a long, long time, taking every detail in like he had another picture to compare it to and was playing 'spot the differences'. It was possible he didn't even hear her – he seemed so completely in another world.

"I've changed my mind." He announced abruptly. It startled her, it had come minutes after her question.

"What?"

"I've changed my mind." He repeated. "The sword belongs with you. With _him_. I don't need it back after all."

Piper blinked, bewildered.

"But you said it wasn't supposed to be here. You said it took you 'ages' to find it and you were mad at me for keeping it. You told me Wyatt wasn't the true owner and that you had to get it back to lake-girl."

The old wizard (warlock?) was already turning away, though, and ambling out the doorway.

"You just keep it safe. I know you can, Piper. I'll be back to check on it."

He sounded like he was talking about cookies he'd left in the oven – not Ex-freaking-Calibur.

"But – but I thought Wyatt wasn't King Arthur!" She shouted after him.

No answer. It was completely silent in her house.

When she set down her child, "Mommy will be right back, honey", and ran upstairs, she found the staff missing and a distinct lack of wizards.

For a whole minute she wondered if she imagined the whole thing, blinking in utter perplexity at the sword in the stone in the corner. Had a crazy Merlin actually visited her, or was she losing it?

Piper had no idea.

However, when she went back downstairs five minutes later she heard her son saying,

"Meh-lin. Meh-lin."

And she knew she'd really just met the greatest warlock of all time.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> So is Wyatt a reincarnated King Arthur? Well, he's certainly blond enough. :D I leave it up to you.
> 
> This was my attempt to make what happened in "Sword and the City" make sense with Merlin's world. It was actually kinda hard. Hope it turned out alright. 
> 
> Should I do a second one? Please leave a comment! 
> 
> Thanks!


End file.
